February Fun

This February has been filled with celebrating friendships, building trust, using data to drive our student goals and getting outside to enjoy a little early taste of Spring!

Community Events

February has been bustlin' between assemblies, karaoke in the cafeteria, the 100th Day of School, Valentine's Day, Black History Month and President's Day. There is always something new to learn about each other and the greater community around us.

Save the Date: Spring Parent University 3/13/23

WSS ELA Academic Update

Our kindergarten students are learning two new ELA programs this year. They are very busy learning phonic skills and letter formation through Really Great Reading Countdown and Handwriting Without Tears. Both programs involve manipulatives and hands on activities as well as fun learning games for practice and review.

Our PreK students are also learning letter and number formations through the Handwriting Without Tears program. They are having fun using boards, wooden pieces, chalk, and small pencils to learn and practice. What a great foundation this is setting for kindergarten next year!

ELA Home Connection:

The Fountas & Pinnell classroom is core to our literacy instructional model at WSS. With the kick-off of PARP approaching, we would like to share so tips on active home engagement for literacy:

listen to the books your children bring home to read
read books aloud to children
talk about books together
go to the library
encourage children to write for authentic purposes (grocery list, invitation, letters, etc)
go outside everyday; play and use your imagination
explore topics you and your children are interested in
have a family weekend reading time, possibly even in a favorite reading spot

WSS Math Academic Updates

This month we celebrated 100 days of school! Our Kindergartner’s created some fantastic projects using 100 items to represent each day of learning. They did a gallery walk to view all of the projects and some students (and teachers) even dressed up as a “100 year old” to celebrate the day. Our First graders are coming up with different equations that would total the amount of days we’ve been in school during their Number Corner time. In 2nd grade, students are figuring out how many hundreds it takes to make a thousand using linking clips. It’s evident that some great learning has taken place in the past 100 days at W.S.S.!

WSS Special Area Updates

PE: K-6 students all participated in a cooperative game called MISSION IMPOSSIBLE in the month of February. The focus words of these activities were TEAMWORK, COOPERATION, TRUST AND STRATEGY. The students did an amazing job working well with others and creating a plan to succeed in their mission.

The month of February was also the start of 3rd and 4th grade intramurals. We have 110 students participating in our after school program!!!

WSS Character Education/SEL Updates

On February 10th, we recognized 38 students PreK-6 who consistently demonstrated the characteristics of fairness through sharing, understanding and adapting rules within games if necessary, and ultimately understanding that fair is not always equal but rather, fairness is when everyone gets what they need in order to succeed.

PK-3rd Grade Assembly Video

4th-6th Grade Assembly Video

February is the month of Trustworthiness. We kicked the month off with a fun blindfolded Buddy Walk. We look forward to recognizing another group of amazing WSS students at the March 10th Character Education assembly!

Respect will be our character focus for March.

From the Desk of Principal Messura

It’s Pick A Reading Partner Month (PARP) at WSS! Please help us as we continue to build the love of READING with our kids! Below, is some information from Raising Readers 4 Life that every parent should know about reading:

¨ Access to interesting reading material is the best predictor of future reading ability. The more you choose to read, the better you get at it!

¨ Books of interest help readers try out concepts they are learning, expand vocabulary, and motivate a child to read even more. Too often, reading is, “Something I have to do for school.”

¨ Our four and five-year old children are just getting “in the reading game.” They need time and patience to build confidence as they practice and develop reading strategies.

¨ Our six and seven-year old children continue strategy and concept building as they increase their comprehension. They too need time and patience too as these develop.

¨ Reading without comprehension is only word-calling or sound identification. The purpose of reading is to understand text.

¨ Set aside time to talk with your child about what they are reading—what they liked, didn’t like, what they would change.

Most of all….read, read, read! Read together, read with a friend, read with a relative, read to a stuffed animal, read to a sibling,...just read. Here’s to a great month!

Our 2nd Progress Report of the year will NOT be mailed home. Instead, it will be available on our Portal beginning on Friday, March 17th after 3:00 p.m. If you would like a printed version of your child's progress report, please call the Main Office to request one.